Non Smartphone

RumRat

Woolsery said:

RumRat said:

You can make any smartphone into a basic phone....I don't think the problems are with the phone as much as those using them.

Some people are choosing to go dumb phone because of the push towards doing away with cash. Maintaining cash means keeping a proportion of transactions private from those who might wish to monitor them. Governments would love to get everyone with a full digital identity for reasons that might not always be in their personal interest. Once there's no cash the door is open to programming money and determining what it may be spent on.

Of course we all know democratic governments would never interfere with people's right to spend their money as they please as the state does in China.....although there were those in Canada who contributed digitally to the Truckers' Fund and had their bank accounts frozen at the behest of the wonderful Mr Trudeau.

Oh dear.....Not really seeing your point. It's not compulsory to use your phone for payments. The thread is about wanting a basic phone any phone can be made basic.
As for the rest of the conspiracy theory.....Yah boo!

Andy_L

SinDinero said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

outtatune said:

I got my mum a 4th edition Nokia 105 for less than £20. It's basic personified. It can make and receive calls, send and receive sms messages, and has an alarm. Yes it has a speakerphone option and removeable battery.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B081DDN2LY/

That Amazon listing is a tad misleading, describes the phone as 3G, it isn't. There is a Nokia 105 4G.

How can they get away with saying its 3g if it isn't?

Where are trading standards?

Waiting for somebody to report it to them? They don't have the resources to trawl through...281,257 Amazon marketplace sellers (2019) adverts.

Woolsery

RumRat said:

Woolsery said:

RumRat said:

You can make any smartphone into a basic phone....I don't think the problems are with the phone as much as those using them.

Some people are choosing to go dumb phone because of the push towards doing away with cash. Maintaining cash means keeping a proportion of transactions private from those who might wish to monitor them. Governments would love to get everyone with a full digital identity for reasons that might not always be in their personal interest. Once there's no cash the door is open to programming money and determining what it may be spent on.

Of course we all know democratic governments would never interfere with people's right to spend their money as they please as the state does in China.....although there were those in Canada who contributed digitally to the Truckers' Fund and had their bank accounts frozen at the behest of the wonderful Mr Trudeau.

As for the rest of the conspiracy theory.....Yah boo!

Yup, that might be the highest level of response one can expect if introducing a known reason why some people reject technical innovation on a techie forum.

Still, no offence taken. I own a smart phone and I use it dumb nearly all the time, but the weight is an issue, as was the price. I also don't expect it to ring in a deep puddle like my old Nokia, which was returned to me because the person who heard it was so gobsmacked it still worked!

RumRat

Woolsery said:

RumRat said:

Woolsery said:

RumRat said:

You can make any smartphone into a basic phone....I don't think the problems are with the phone as much as those using them.

Some people are choosing to go dumb phone because of the push towards doing away with cash. Maintaining cash means keeping a proportion of transactions private from those who might wish to monitor them. Governments would love to get everyone with a full digital identity for reasons that might not always be in their personal interest. Once there's no cash the door is open to programming money and determining what it may be spent on.

Of course we all know democratic governments would never interfere with people's right to spend their money as they please as the state does in China.....although there were those in Canada who contributed digitally to the Truckers' Fund and had their bank accounts frozen at the behest of the wonderful Mr Trudeau.

As for the rest of the conspiracy theory.....Yah boo!

Yup, that might be the highest level of response one can expect if introducing a known reason why some people reject technical innovation on a techie forum.

Still, no offence taken. I own a smart phone and I use it dumb nearly all the time, but the weight is an issue, as was the price. I also don't expect it to ring in a deep puddle like my old Nokia, which was returned to me because the person who heard it was so gobsmacked it still worked!

Your theory got the response it deserved, not you personally.
My smartphone would be OK in a puddle, so no need for an old phone for that.

Back on topic. OP did you make a decision? You will need a 4G phone for any guaranteed longevity. I'm not sure you will get one that is totally dumb like the old ones.
But, you can get something like this.... Nokia 2720 Flip  ... and just stayed signed out of everything you don't want.

Woolsery

RumRat said:

Woolsery said:

RumRat said:

Woolsery said:

RumRat said:

You can make any smartphone into a basic phone...

Some people are choosing to go dumb phone because of the push towards doing away with cash. Maintaining cash means keeping a proportion of transactions private from those who might wish to monitor them. Governments would love to get everyone with a full digital identity for reasons that might not always be in their personal interest. Once there's no cash the door is open to programming money and determining what it may be spent on.

Of course we all know democratic governments would never interfere with people's right to spend their money as they please as the state does in China.....although there were those in Canada who contributed digitally to the Truckers' Fund and had their bank accounts frozen at the behest of the wonderful Mr Trudeau.

As for the rest of the conspiracy theory.....Yah boo!

Yup, that might be the highest level of response one can expect if introducing a known reason why some people reject technical innovation on a techie forum.

Still, no offence taken. I own a smart phone and I use it dumb nearly all the time, but the weight is an issue, as was the price. I also don't expect it to ring in a deep puddle like my old Nokia, which was returned to me because the person who heard it was so gobsmacked it still worked!

Your theory got the response it deserved, not you personally.

"I don't think the problems are with the phone as much as those using them."

As I said, no offence taken. The implication that there might be something wrong with people who don't want smart phones wasn't exactly kind to the OP and others like them though.

Ergates

Woolsery said:
Some people are choosing to go dumb phone because of the push towards doing away with cash. 

That argument doesn't hold up to scrutiny.   There is nothing in the move away from cash (which society is managing on it's own with no input from the government) that requires everyone to own a smart phone, credit and debit cards long predated smart phones, and whilst most cash cards are currently linked to a phone app, there is no reason they have to be.  Given the cost of owning a running a smart phone, basing a cashless society on universal ownership of one wouldn't really work.

Secondly, even if the move to a cashless society *did* (somehow) require everyone to own a smart phone, a small number of people deliberately choosing not to own one wouldn't prevent that.  If people *choose* to disadvantage themselves, society has no ethical obligation to accommodate them.

Woolsery

Ergates said:

Woolsery said:
Some people are choosing to go dumb phone because of the push towards doing away with cash. 

That argument doesn't hold up to scrutiny.   There is nothing in the move away from cash (which society is managing on it's own with no input from the government) that requires everyone to own a smart phone, credit and debit cards long predated smart phones, and whilst most cash cards are currently linked to a phone app, there is no reason they have to be.  Given the cost of owning a running a smart phone, basing a cashless society on universal ownership of one wouldn't really work.

Secondly, even if the move to a cashless society *did* (somehow) require everyone to own a smart phone, a small number of people deliberately choosing not to own one wouldn't prevent that.  If people *choose* to disadvantage themselves, society has no ethical obligation to accommodate them.

The concept that individual governments solely decide the direction of travel in macro-monetary matters is naive, but they like to pretend they do. Such is the case with Universal Basic Income; a global idea which would enable all to possess the tech necessary to participate. After all, if the Chinese have got there....

A small number of people refusing to go along this road have already been thought about too. The World Economic Forum calls them the 'discontents' who, it's envisaged, will live outside their utopian dream cities and form some sort of alternative society.

Now, you and I might call these ideas mad and deranged, but it's important to consider who's having them and the amount of influence they can wield. From where I'm standing their plans for 2030 don't look too far off. Anyway, it ain't my theory and it's unlikely I shall be too bothered one way or the other by then! .

SinDinero

Woolsery said:

RumRat said:

You can make any smartphone into a basic phone....I don't think the problems are with the phone as much as those using them.

Some people are choosing to go dumb phone because of the push towards doing away with cash. Maintaining cash means keeping a proportion of transactions private from those who might wish to monitor them. Governments would love to get everyone with a full digital identity for reasons that might not always be in their personal interest. Once there's no cash the door is open to programming money and determining what it may be spent on.

Of course we all know democratic governments would never interfere with people's right to spend their money as they please as the state does in China.....although there were those in Canada who contributed digitally to the Truckers' Fund and had their bank accounts frozen at the behest of the wonderful Mr Trudeau.

Well yes. I must admit, as well as the cost this is also a very good reason to go back to the pre 2013 days.

Ultimately your Social Credit ID will be the smartphone that you have become addicted to - and literally everyone with a smartphone is an addict in denial.
Can anyone here actually leave the house without their mini computer? Just try it.

The other aspect connected to this is the social aspect. We´ve all seen it in various situations - out with people that are basically staring at a phone half the time, social media messaging someone else whilst having a half conversation in person etc. etc.
I never ever went out with anyone that chose to play Snake all night, lol. Plus people generally never talked mostly nonsense for several hours at a time by sms message especially as 10p a pop, haha).

Those that I have read about and spoken to all seem to feel liberated by the ditching of their smartphone. So I think it's long past time to join them . . . . 

There are loads of articles about this very same thing. Here´s a recent BBC snippet: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60763168

Regarding the whole 2g, 3g, 4g thing. That is kind of a difficult one as there is no definite answer as to when 2 and 3g might be shut off - forcing people to upgrade (similarly to what happened to analogue TV).
But by that time (even if its just in 1 year) I will be that used to just carrying a phone "in case of emergencies" again that I could probably do without it altogether anyway.

SinDinero

Andy_L said:

SinDinero said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

outtatune said:

I got my mum a 4th edition Nokia 105 for less than £20. It's basic personified. It can make and receive calls, send and receive sms messages, and has an alarm. Yes it has a speakerphone option and removeable battery.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B081DDN2LY/

That Amazon listing is a tad misleading, describes the phone as 3G, it isn't. There is a Nokia 105 4G.

How can they get away with saying its 3g if it isn't?

Where are trading standards?

Waiting for somebody to report it to them? They don't have the resources to trawl through...281,257 Amazon marketplace sellers (2019) adverts.

I suspect 99.9% of people would not question a listing that says a phone works on 3g.

SinDinero

RumRat said:

Back on topic. OP did you make a decision? You will need a 4G phone for any guaranteed longevity. I'm not sure you will get one that is totally dumb like the old ones.
But, you can get something like this.... Nokia 2720 Flip  ... and just stayed signed out of everything you don't want.

 Not yet. There are so many models and shopping on Amazon is a nightmare as they (probably purposely) post the same customer questions and answers for different models.

But needless to say, I may actually just go with a 2 or 3g phone and see how long the signal lasts. If I get one under 25 notes then I guess it won´t be such a hit when the inevitable forced upgrade is required.

4g phones seem too close to smartphones for my liking often advertising Whatsapp etc. as a good thing.

One thing I have seen is that people that had old tech like Nokias seem to often complain that the newer versions are poorer quality. . . . . A sign of the times I guess. 
I used to be able to bounce my old Nokia 3310 off the floor and it never stopped working, haha.